Walteb buchanan



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER BUCHANAN, OF MILFORD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO DANIEL HOWELL, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF TANNING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,906, dated December 17, 1840.

To all 10h-0m t may concern:

Be it known that I, TAI/rsa BUCHANAN, of Milford, in the county of Pikeand State of Pennsylvania, have made a new and useful Improvement inProcesses of Tanning Hides and Skins by Means of a Machine or ApparatusAdapted to that Purpose; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull and exact description thereof.

The main feature in my improvement consists, in so constructing themachinery to be employed, as that the hides or skins to be tanned shallbe alternately immersed in, and removed from, the tanning liquor, by acontinuous or nearly a continuous motion, and this may be best effectedby suspending the skins upon rounds, or bars, forming the periphery, ofa wheel, which wheel is to be made to revolve in, and over a vatcontaining the tanning liquor, or ooze.

In the accompanying drawing, A, A, rep resents a tan vat, which is to besunk in the ground in the usual way.

B, B, is a wheel the shaft C ofwhich is sustained and runs on properbearings, on each side of the vat.

D, is a wheel by which motion may be communicated to the wheel from anyadequate source of moving power.

E, E, are sloping sides, or elevations on each side of the vat, madeflaring in order to collect the dripping ooze, and reconduct it into thevat. The periphery of the wheel B, B, is composed of slats, or rounds a,a, a., which cross from head to head, and which are to be 4of suchlength as will be equal to the width of the hides or skins to be tanned.In using this wheel the skins prepared for tanning, in the ordinary way,are to be hung by their middles upon the respective rounds, so thattheir ends may meet, as shown at F, F. Each skin is to be confined toits round by strings, or thongs, at its edges. On a wheel of nine feetin diameter, with which I have essayed my plan, I have one hundred andeighty rounds, upon which the same number of skins were suspended, andthe Wheel was then made to revolve, slowly, say at the rate of one turnin a minute, and by keeping the wheel in constant motion for about aweek the skins were thoroughly tanned.

At the end of the vat, where the skins reenter it, I form, or placeprojecting ledges, as shown at Z9, b, b, Fig. 2, which is a section of apart of this end, These ledges have the effect of confining the skins,in some degree, as they pass over them, and of forcing out a portion ofthe tanning liquor,

Vhen hides are to be tanned, the apparatus, and procedure will be thesame with the foregoing, in all respects, the only difference being inthe size of the apparatus. The strength of the ooze, is to be regulated,according to the judgment of the tanner, and does not require, or admitof, any particular directions.

I have herein described that form of apparat-us, for carrying on theprocess, which I believe to be the most simple and efficient, but itwill be apparent that the hides, or skins, may be alternately dippedinto, and removed from, the tanning liquor in vari ous ways. A wheel, ora segment of a wheel, may be made to vibrate backward, and forward, witha semi-revolution having the skins suspended to it or the skins may besuspended by a frame, which may rise and fall vertically, and by suchmeans the same end might be attained, although with less convenience,than by the apparatus described; and suchI a manner of proceeding wouldbe found to be invasions of my right, not substantially differing fromthe machine, and modeof operation, herein described.

lhat I claim therefore as my improve ments, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, isy The tanning of hides,-and skins, by attaching themt-o, or hanging them by, the slats, or rounds, of a wheel such as isherein described, said wheel being placed over a tan vat, in suchmanner, as thatby its revolution, the skins shall be alternately dippedinto, and raised from the tanning liquor, by a motion which is to becontinuous, or nearly so, during the process, not intending however bythe foregoing claim, to limit myself to the precise form of theapparatus, as herein described, but holding myself at liberty to varythe same, as I may think proper, while I attain the same end, by meanssubstantially the same.

In testimony that the foregoing is a full and exact description of myimprovement I have hereunto set my hand, before two Witnesses, this 22dday of October 1840.

IVALTER BUCHANAN, lWitnesses:

W. A. COLONY, JACOB SWARTWOOD,

